OF
CRIMINALS AND ARTISTS: A controversial theory suggests that
artists and criminals have a lot in common: they both break the
rules. Both "express a primal rage. Love, hate, fury, despair
and passion can be given utterance with brushes and pens, or with
guns and knives. Artists enjoy seeing themselves as raffish outsiders,
people of dubious morality." The
Observer (UK) 10/06/02

FILM'S
DEBT TO POLLOCK: The best, most counter-cultural strain of
American film-making owes a great deal, perhaps everything, to
Jackson Pollock. It is impossible to overstate his importance
in American culture. He was the first purely American artist.
It took the strange, inarticulate Pollock to break through to
something unprecedented. The way he painted - dancing, letting
paint fall - was not European. It asserted a freedom, a daring
that marks a break in the cultural history of the US." The
Age (Melbourne) 10/07/02

ACTIVE
ANALYSIS: "To understand the significance of music for
the musicians who created it and the society in which it was produced
is a challenge to music-lovers. Perhaps no writer on music devoted
more energy to this task than Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno, and
the translations into English of his writings on philosophy and
music and their diffusion have been multiplying in recent years
while, at the same time, his ideas have become widely influential
in the US and Europe." New York
Review of Books 10/24/02

WHO
OWNS DANCE? Once a dance is created, its recreation often
depends on the memories or records of those who were there at
the creation. But who owns the work once the choreographer is
gone? "Questions revolve around whether choreographers in
fact own their own dances and even wanted those dances to be seen
after their deaths." The New
York Times 10/10/02

ROYAL
BALLET IN NO RUSH: London's Royal Ballet says it is in no
rush to appoint a new artistic director, after Ross Stretton was
forced out of the job last week. "It has dismissed as speculation
reports that the artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre,
is the front-runner to take over following the resignation of
Ross Stretton." BBC 10/07/02

ROYAL
BALLET REMAKES ITS SEASON: After ousting Ross Stretton from
the top job at the Royal Ballet in London, the company has dramatically
remade its schedule for the current season, dropping ballets and
changing soloists. The Guardian (UK)
10/09/02

HAVE
IT YOUR WAY: We're maybe three years away from having video-on-demand
- any movie, anytime, anywhere. "The implications of such
a trend: declining influence of the movie-distribution chains
that hold sway over when and where new films are released; few
video stores outside large urban areas; and dwindling attendances
at cinemas everywhere. Cable providers will get their cut in the
form of payment for opening their networks to third-party content.
Meanwhile, the set-top box will replace the VCRthe greatest
single product the consumer-electronics industry ever produced,
and one which, at its peak, generated half the industry's sales
and three-quarters of its profits." Think the cable/movie/TV
business is worried? The Economist
10/04/02

WEBCASTERS
MAKE ROYALTY DEAL: Small webcasters may have a deal to lower
proposed royalties for songs they stream on the net. Many webcasters
had gone silent, complaining that onerous royalty fees would put
them out of business. "Sources on both sides of Sunday's
deal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said it was a two-year
agreement that calls for Webcasters to pay back and future royalties
equal to 8% to 12% of their revenue or 5% to 7% of their expenses,
whichever was higher." Los Angeles
Times 10/07/02

GOING
DIGITAL? Digital radio could be the biggest update to the
medium since the debut of FM in the 1940s. The Federal Communications
Commission is to decide Thursday whether to allow radio stations
to broadcast digital signals and how they should do it. Digital
radio's rollout could begin in a few months in some major cities,
and consumers would start seeing digital receivers in car stereos
and high-end audio systems next year." Wired
(AP) 10/08/02

FINAL
CUT: Video editing software is sophisticated enough that anyone
can now edit TV shows or movies. Legal challenges confront Cleanflicks,
a company that edits out scenes it feels are objectionable. But
"legal or not, this kind of manipulation is here to stay.
It's not just conservatives in Utah who are taking the knife to
films: Enterprising fans are using their computers to alter films,
too." Village Voice 10/08/02

THE
FCC DID WHAT? The two satellite radio companies which
have been inundating us with advertising for the last year or
two haven't turned a profit yet, but execs at both Sirius and
XM have repeatedly expressed confidence that mass popularity for
the medium is only a matter of time. But this week, the FCC has
approved plans for existing radio stations to broadcast digital
signals (much as TV stations will soon be required to) and the
fallout may include the death of satellite radio. Wired
10/11/02

WHAT
WILL DIGITAL SOUND LIKE? This month, the FCC approved the
introduction of digital radio signals into the American broadcast
landscape, setting off a flurry of predictions, speculations,
and warnings over what form the new technology might take. The
truth is that digital radio will likely be many things to many
people, but anyone looking for it to provide an end to the corporate
domination of the airwaves will likely be disappointed. Chicago
Tribune 10/13/02

FILM
INSTITUTE MAY CLOSE: The Australian Film Institute is close
to closing, after failing to raise enough money to support its
operations. "In its 25 years of existence, the Australian
Film Institute's library has played a key role in countless local
and international screen projects." The
Age (Melbourne) 10/10/02

SCOTTISH
STUDIO IN DOUBT: A study commissioned by the Scottish government
concludes there isn't enough fim work in Scotland to justify building
a big new film studio. "Hopes had been raised for a studio
after one of the busiest years in the industry - with about 14
productions currently shooting in Scotland." BBC
10/09/02

FREE
CDs FOR IMMUNITY: "In New York last week the Big Five
record companies struck a deal with the attorneys-general of 40
US states who were suing them for price-fixing. The Five agreed
to give five and a half million free CDs to schools and public
libraries after being accused of setting mimimum CD prices at
three major retailers... Anomalies like these have provoked parliamentary
inquiries in Washington, London and Brussels, but never a full
prosecution. Governments do not mess with the music biz. It is
too big, too generous at election time and too influential on
young minds for politicians to risk a coalition of gangsta rappers,
country crooners and opera divas converging on their doorstep
in cacophonous protest. The biz has always got away with it in
the lobby. Now, the US prosecutors have backed off again in exchange
for a stack of free discs."La
Scena Musicale 10/10/02

YEAH,
AND NAPSTER CAUSED THE RECESSION, TOO: The global slump in
CD sales is getting worse, with the latest figures showing a 9%
drop in sales in the first half of 2002, following a 5% drop last
year. It's all the fault of internet piracy, according to the
industry, with free song-swapping sites "the greatest threat facing
the music industry today," but the industry still hasn't
come up with anything approaching a user-friendly legal alternative
to free sites like Kazaa and Gnutella. BBC
10/11/02

MUSIC
AMID THE MUDDLE: This week, Shanghai launched an incredibly
ambitious international music festival, and predicted that the
huge gathering would 'make history.' The reality, says one critic,
was that the city and the festival organizers were completely
unprepared to put on a show of such magnitude. "The level
of incompetence is hard to understand in a city that resembles
a bizarre cross between the sci-fi optimism of Dan Dare and the
dystopian nightmare of Blade Runner... How many Chinese men does
it take to change a light bulb? Eight. This is not a joke. I happen
to know the answer because I watched it happen. China is a country
whose full employment policy creates ludicrous levels of over-staffing
and a pass-the-buck culture." The
Telegraph (UK) 10/12/02

FAME
CAN BE FLEETING: "Hey! You've won the prestigious Van
Cliburn piano competition! What are you going to do now? Answer:
Go to Bakersfield; Allendale, Michigan; Hot Springs Village, Arkansas...
Life isn't concertos at Carnegie Hall for Van Cliburn winners.
After getting showered with attention and fame, finalists begin
a two-year grind of recitals and mostly low-key orchestra dates.
Even with all the hype, winning the Van Cliburn doesn't guarantee
stardom." San Jose Mercury News
10/12/02

OPERA
WARS: British arts policy tries to promote opera in parts
of the country where there isn't much. So regional companies get
big subsidies. But bad facilities and lame programming choices
undercut efforts. And knockoff foreign touring companies are an
even bigger threat. "Audiences, depressingly, seem content
to hear foreigners singing familiar tunes loudly, with scenery
and costumes left over from the silent-film era." The
Telegraph (UK) 10/09/02

NOTHING
HAPPENS BY ACCIDENT: To hear many people tell it, you would
think that the recent resurgence of opera as a popular art form
has happened purely by chance, and that the increasingly young
age of opera patrons is due to nothing more than youngsters wandering
into the opera house by accident. Not so: in fact, opera companies
across North America have been making a concerted effort to draw
in a more diverse crowd. The Canadian Opera Company is a prime
example, with an 'Opera 101' education program, as well as a continuing
series of classic operas directed by famous names like Atom Egoyan.
Toronto Star 10/12/02

WHAT,
US, WORRY? "In a difficult financial environment for
symphony orchestras, the Florida Orchestra has bucked a trend.
In the fiscal year that closed at the end of June, the orchestra
reported a surplus of $480,000 in a cash budget of $7.8-million
at its annual meeting Tuesday. The Florida Orchestra didn't have
the weakened ticket sales that many other orchestras did after
the terrorist attacks of last Sept. 11," and a pre-9/11 round
of budget cutting may have helped the orchestra stay above the
red line. St. Petersburg Times 10/09/02

WAGNER
TO TAKE OVER WEIMAR: Nike Wagner, granddaughter of Richard
Wagner, has been chosen as director of the Weimar Music Festival
for at least three seasons. "Ms Wagner, a former culture
minister in the Hamburg regional government, was also considered
in 1999 to take over the Bayreuth festival, which showcases her
great-grandfather's works." BBC
10/09/02

WHICH
BEST IS BEST? The Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in
London exists to spot new talented conductors and help them along.
But by what criteria do you declare a winner? From a listener's
perspective, the wrong guy won... The
Independent (UK) 10/07/02

BEVERLY'S
BACK: Was it really only six months ago that Beverly Sills
resigned her post at the head of New York's Lincoln Center, following
a contentious debate over the complex's impending expansion and
renovation? At the time, Sills said that she was retiring, and
wanted to "smell the flowers a little bit." But apparently
the quiet life wasn't all it was cracked up to be for Sills, 73,
who has just accepted the chairmanship of the Metropolitan Opera.
The Met is, of course, Lincoln Center's most powerful tenant,
putting Sills smack in the middle of the same debates she so recently
bowed out of. The New York Times 10/12/02

STEPHEN
AMBROSE, 66: Stephen Ambrose, the eminent historian whose
colloquial style made him a bestselling author as well as a respected
researcher, has died at the age of 66 after a long battle with
lung cancer. Ambrose had lately been battling charges of plagiarism
in several of his works. The New York
Times (AP) 10/13/02

THE
RADICALIZATION OF LARRY LESSIG: Lawrence Lessig is taking
on the business that controls big entertainment. This week he's
arguing his case before the US Supreme Court. "The entertainment
industry, Lessig believes, is locking up old movies, books and
songs that long ago should have transcended private ownership
and become the property of the people. At stake, he says, is not
only our common cultural heritage, but also the freedom that writers
and musicians and filmmakers must have to interpret, reinterpret,
adapt, borrow, sample, mock, imitate, parody, criticize - the
very lifeblood of the creative process. But Lessig doesn't merely
want to free the past. He wants to free the future as well."
Chicago Tribune 10/10/02

BACK
TO TELL ABOUT IT: "Gabriel García Márquez,
the 1982 Nobel laureate from Colombia and the foremost author
in Latin America, learned in 1999 that he had lymphatic cancer.
He promptly cloistered himself with a single-minded pursuit not
seen perhaps since he wrote the 1967 masterpiece, One Hundred
Years of Solitude, in a little more than a year, his only
vice a steady supply of cigarettes provided by his wife, Mercedes."
Now he's about to release "what may be his most-awaited book,
Vivir Para Contarla, or To Live to Tell It."
The New York Times 10/09/02

OHNESORG
RESIGNS BERLIN: Deutsche Presse-Agentur is reporting that
Franz Xaver Ohnesorg, general manager of the Berlin Philharmonic,
will step down from the job January 1, 2003. The orchestra says
he's leaving for personal reasons. Before going to Berlin Ohnesorg
had a short and stormy stint running Carnegie Hall in New York.
Andante (DPA) 10/08/02

LEONARDO'S
HUMBLE ORIGINS: Was Leonardo da Vinci the son of a Middle
Eastern slave. After 25 years of research the director of an Italian
museum located near the Leonardo's birthplace in Tuscany has concluded
as much... Discovery 09/26/02

KERTESZ
WINS NOBEL: A Hungarian novelist whose works draw their dark
inspiration from the author's own days in two Nazi death camps
has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Imre Kertesz
was lauded by the Swedish Academy for "exploring how individuals
can survive when subjected to 'barbaric' social forces."BBC 10/10/02

GHOSTWRITTEN
NOBEL? One of Spain's most distinguished writers - Nobel winner
Camilo Jose Cela - has been accused of "regularly using ghostwriters
for most of his career. The allegations... include not just the
recent works of Cela, who died in January at 85 and won his Nobel
in 1989, but stretch back to his early classics." The Guardian 10/09/02

ATWOOD
SUES GLOBE: The Toronto Globe & Mail is being sued for
libel by famed Canadian author Margaret Atwood, after the newspaper
supposedly singled out Atwood as one of the more prominent signers
of a strongly worded petition opposing American President George
W. Bush's plans to invade Iraq. Atwood did sign the petition,
along with about 130 other Canadian artists, authors, and celebrities,
but she claims that the Globe associated her with comments made
at the press conference announcing the petition (notably one referring
to the American administration as a group of thugs,) a press conference
she did not attend. National Post
(Canada) 10/10/02

PRODUCT
PLACEMENT OR HACK-FOR-HIRE? Audiences have long since gotten
used to the endless and gratuitous product placements used in
movies and television shows to generate extra revenue with very
little extra effort. But now, an even more insidious form of message
imbedding has come to the world of books: "Two entrepreneurial
exiles from Britain's advertising universe are venturing boldly
and unapologetically into this once-forbidden territory. They
propose to write fiction for organizations and institutions that
want their message communicated. Never mind the niceties of plot,
theme and character development; let's just turn literature into
another marketing opportunity, of which the Western world is so
clearly bereft." The Globe &
Mail (Toronto) 10/12/02

OUSTING
THE POET: The New Jersey State Legislature has been working
on a resolution to oust state poet laureate Amiri Baraka after
Baraka read a poem suggesting that Israelis might have had something
to do with the attack on the World Trade Center. Though he can't
fire Baraka, NJ Gov. James E. McGreevey "stopped payment
on the $10,000 state grant Baraka was to have received as the
state's honorary poet laureate." Newark
Star-Ledger 10/08/02

SECOND
CHANCES: Today's publishing climate exerts huge pressure on
writers to hit big out of the gate. And even greater pressure
to follow up with another success. There's little patience for
stumbles. But "Second-Novel Syndrome has long been an occupational
hazard in the world of letters, as authors struggle with writer's
block, intense scrutiny, and the self-consciousness induced by
sudden celebrity." Village Voice
Literary Supplement 10/08/02

CROSSFIRE:
There are bad reviews. And then there are bad reviews.
Jason Cowley writes that literary London is wincing at a whomping
of "perhaps unprecedented hostility and malice" in the
Times Literary Supplement of noted Russian scholar Orlando
Figes' new book, Natasha's Dance, "a broad, sweeping,
multidisciplinary cultural history of Russia." Moscow-based,
British academic Rachel Polonsky's review "cites among her
charges against him factual inaccuracies, misreadings, cavalier
appropriation of sources and overall intellectual irresponsibility.
There are even suggestions, if not of plagiarism, which remains
the cardinal crime in academe, then of careless paraphrase."
The Guardian (UK) 10/03/02

PORTER
COMES FORWARD: Peter Porter has won poetry's biggest award
- the £10,000 Forward Poetry prize. "After the acrimony
of many recent poetry prizes, last night's was a unanimous decision
by the judges, for Porter's latest collection, Max is Missing.
William Sieghart, the chairman, described him as one of the most
distinguished poets working in Britain - where he has lived since
he left Australia 50 years ago." The
Guardian (UK) 10/10/02

SERIOUS
READING: Many American magazines have been struggling as the
economy has worsened. But more serious magazines have seen their
circulations increase significantly. Harper's, the Atlantic
Monthly and The New Republic are newly thriving. "When
everyone is feeling that the only important thing in life is the
next Lexus and worship CEOs as demigods, there is little appetite
for ideas or good writing, which is what our magazines are about.
But the fact remains that you can get more out of good writing
than you can from a 500-channel television universe that inevitably
dissolves into incoherence. Writing involves thought and creates
coherence, which is an appealing commodity in this atmosphere
of concern." Los Angeles Times
10/04/02

BOOK
WORLD CONVENES IN FRANKFURT: The annual Frankfurt Book Fair
begins this week "with more than 6,000 exhibitors representing
110 countries, hosting more than 2,600 events and 800 readings
and interviews with authors. Although the number of countries
and publishers is 5 percent lower this year than last year, the
Frankfurt Book Fair remains the largest fair of its kind in the
world. The most notable absentees are from the host country itself,
with almost 15 percent fewer German publishers reserving space
this year." Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung 10/04/02

PUBLISHING'S
GOLDEN AGE: Down with the pessimists, writes Toby Mundy. "With
its over-educated, overworked, underpaid legions, publishing is
an industry bedevilled by pessimism. This pessimism blinds people
to the fact that we are living in a golden age of book publishing
in which quantity and quality rival anything in the past, in which
books have never been so well published and in which they occupy
a more boisterously visible place in the general culture than
ever before." Prospect 10/02

IS
BROADWAY BAD FOR THEATRE? For decades, the progression of
a given play or musical from one of America's regional theatre
centers to the bright lights of Broadway has been largely unchanged.
New productions are shuffled off to a regional the way newly drafted
baseball players are sent to the minors for seasoning, and brought
up to the big time when they are deemed to have worked out all
the kinks. But in the last few years, regional theatre has begun
to rethink its role in the process, and some have begun to question
whether the Broadway Way is really the right way? Boston
Globe 10/13/02

OH
MY MIMI: Director Baz Luhrmann loves to reinvent. His new
take on La Bohème is "about to land slap-bang
in the middle of Broadway, with all the attendant razzmatazz.
And it's not cut, translated or otherwise jazzed-up or dumbed-down
either: every note of the score will be sung and played by trained
singers and a full orchestra.This crazy and wonderful project
has a long history." The Telegraph
(UK) 10/07/02

LONDON
CALLING: Why are American movie stars so anxious to perform
on London stages? Maybe it's because they feel that "Americans
tend to fare better treading the boards here than they do in their
own country. The perception among many American stars is that
the critical piranhas lie mercilessly in wait on Broadway, where
seeing a film star on stage isnt such a novelty." The
Times 10/11/02

RERUN:
Broadway is full of revivals this season. "The rationale
among the high-minded is that producers serve as enlightened curators,
like those in art museums, preserving and reinterpreting classics
for new audiences and that plays can only benefit from a revival.
The less stated fact is that producers minimize financial risk
by relying on a familiar formula. But are current shows worth
an audience paying new money for an old formula?" Christian
Science Monitor 10/11/02

CUTTING
OFF A CRITIC: Toronto's Canadian Stage has refused to issue
anymore review tickets to CBC critic Lynn Slotkin, calling her
reviews "consistently mean-spirited, negative and personal."
It's not about bad reviews, the theatre says - rather it's her
tone that annoys them... National
Post 10/09/02

THEY'RE
SO CUTE AT THIS AGE: In the age of star-driven theatre productions,
who to give first billing is usually not an issue. But what do
you do when Dame Maggie Smith and Dame Judi Dench are both starring
in your play? And once you've figured out the billing order, who
gets the prime dressing room? These things may seem minor to the
public, but actors have walked out of productions over their placement
on promotional material, and such 'exposure issues' are considered
a very big deal in the theatrical community. The
Observer (UK) 10/13/02

ART
SALES DOWN THIS YEAR: The Art Sales Index shows that the value
of art sold in the past year declined 13-14 percent. "In
the wake of 11 September, collapsing stock exchanges and high
international tension, the art market has had a tough season,
and while some stellar prices have been achieved, this has tended
to obscure a very real weakness in the middle market." The Art Newspaper 10/11/02

UK
MUSEUMS LOOKING FOR PROMISED HELP: UK museums are hurting.
A survey last summer uncovered "a litany closures, decaying
buildings, collapsing morale and inadequate acquisition funds,"
warning that "unless £167 million was found for museums
outside London, the 'brain drain' from the provinces after years
of underfunding would be hastened, driving many museums into irreversible
decline." The government promised help. But months later,
that help is not assured, and some are beginning to wonder...
The Guardian (UK) 10/10/02

THERE
ONCE WAS A PAINTING FROM GHENT... In 1934 a panel painted
by van Eyck was stolen from in Ghent's St Bavo Cathedral. In the
decades since, the mystery of its disappearance deepened. Was
it hidden elsewhere in the church? Was it sold to a collector?
Was it destroyed? Last week a taxi driver claimed to have some
answers... The Guardian (UK) 10/09/02

BIG
DEAL: The Tate Modern is unveiling a giant sculpture created
by Anish Kapoor for the museum. "The work, which measures
almost 150m in length and is 10 storeys high, spans the entire
entrance of the art gallery. 'It's a big thing because it needs
to be a big thing. One hopes that it's a deep thing'." BBC
10/08/02

LONG
ROAD AHEAD FOR THE BARNES: The Barnes Collection outside Philadelphia
is trying to move inside Philadelphia. Though the Barnes has lined
up plenty of support from civic leaders, funders and foundations,
and though many in Philadelphia are anxious to get the Barnes
to come to town, Albert Barnes' will must be challenged in court.
"This is not something that will be decided in the court
of public opinion. This is going to be up to the courts, and it
could be a very long process." Washington
Post 10/08/02

THWARTING
KHAN: The Aga Khan has been trying to buy property on the
Thames in London to build a museum for his art collection - the
largest collection of Islamic art in the English-speaking world.
But the National Health Service wants the land (owned by King's
College) so the hospital next door can expand. Though the Aga
Khan offers more than twice the money for the property, the sale
is likely to be made to the Health Service, prompting some to
worry that the Aga Khan might take his collection out of England.
The Observer 10/06/02

MET
STATUE CRASHES TO FLOOR: Sunday night a 15th-century marble
statue of Adam by the Venetian sculptor Tullio Lombardo at the
Metropolitan Museum in New York fell off its pedestal and crashed
to the floor. "The museum has now tentatively concluded that
the 6-foot-3-inch statue fell to the ground when one side of the
4-inch-high base of its pedestal apparently buckled, tipping over
both the pedestal and statue." The
New York Times 10/09/02

SCOTLAND
BUYS BEUYS: The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art has
scored a coup. For £605,000 - "hardly enough to buy
you the pickled hind quarters of a Damien Hirst" - the gallery
has purchased a major collection of the work of Joseph Beuys.
"The drawings, lithographs, photographs, books and sculptures
amount to a third of the German artist's multiples, editionalised
versions of his works he produced to bring his art to the widest
public." The Guardian (UK) 10/09/02

ATTACKING
ART, LITERALLY: Cultural terrorism - the destruction of public
art and artifacts in the name of political gain - has yet to reach
American shores, but is a major concern around the world. "The
shelling of the Bosnian National Library in Sarejevo in August
1992, by Serbian nationalists dug in the hills surrounding the
city... and the fire it caused, destroyed thousands of priceless
manuscripts and books, as well as gutting a historic and beautiful
building." Such acts of wanton destruction are often minimized
when placed alongside terrorist attacks on human life, but the
cold reality is that the cultural death toll may be more permanent
than the human one. Toronto Star 10/12/02

TURNER
FAMILY MAY WANT PAINTINGS BACK: William Turner's descendants
are threatening to take back the painter's work from London museums.
"Relatives say the Tate and the National Gallery ignored
the artist's wishes that his collection, now worth an estimated
£500million, should be kept in rooms specifically for his
work. They are considering legal action to try to force the galleries
to return the paintings." London
Evening Standard 10/10/02

A
JETTY REEMERGES: "The most famous work of American art
that almost nobody has ever seen in the flesh is Robert Smithson's
'Spiral Jetty': 6,650 tons of black basalt and earth in the shape
of a gigantic coil, 1,500 feet long, projecting into the remote
shallows of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, where the water is rose
red from algae." The visual effect is stunning, when the
coil can be seen, but it has been years since the murky waters
of the lake yielded up Smithson's work to the eyes of visitors.
But with drought sweeping the American West, the water level is
lower than it has ever been, and the jetty has reappeared, at
least for the time being. The New
York Times Magazine 10/13/02

COPYRIGHT
CASE GETS A HEARING AT THE SUPREME COURT: In a landmark case
which could change the way copyright law is administered in the
U.S., the Supreme Court is hearing arguments on the issue of whether
Congress may extend current copyrights past their original expiration,
as it did in 1998, and keep popular images, songs, and art out
of the public domain, where they could be used by anyone without
permission or payment. The suit was filed by Internet archivist
Eric Eldred, who "runs an Internet archive called Eldritch
Press, which includes such books as Nathaniel Hawthorne's 19th-century
classic The Scarlet Letter. But the 1998 law would have
forced him to pay to publish works from the '20s such as stories
by Sherwood Anderson and some poems by Robert Frost." Washington
Post 10/10/02

THE
RIGHTS OF CREATIVITY: This week's arguments in front of
the US Supreme Court about the constitutionality of the copyright
laws is really a battle over how we as a society will get to
use our creativity. Opponents of the 1998 extension of the copyright
law - which include "dozens of the nation's leading law
professors, several library groups, 17 prominent economists,
and a coalition of both liberal and conservative political action
groups - say it serves no legitimate public purpose, violates
the clear intentions of our nation's founders regarding copyrights
and is unconstitutional." SFGate
09/26/02

WHAT
ECONOMIC RECOVERY? Even as the government continues to insist
that America is on the road to better economic times, the stock
market continues to take large chunks out of some of the nation's
heaviest wallets, and that uncertainty is causing severe pains
to U.S. arts groups, and not just from their dwindling endowments.
In the last months, Alberto Vilar and Ted Turner, two of America's
biggest arts supporters, have warned of possible defaults on their
pledges to various groups, and countless more heavy hitters in
the philanthropic world are said to be in similar financial straits.
The New York Times 10/11/02

MUCH
MORE OF THIS, AND IT'LL BE JUST LIKE THE U.S.: "Toronto's
financial support of its major cultural institutions has declined
by 35 per cent in the past decade at the same time as the regional
economy grew by 40 per cent, a city report says... The report
points out the difficulties that Canada's largest city has had
maintaining its commitments since amalgamation, the shifting of
responsibilities from the provincial government to the municipalities,
and the lack of any additional significant taxation powers beyond
the traditional property levy." The
Globe & Mail (Canada) 10/10/02

CAN'T
IT JUST BE ART? MAYBE NOT: In an age when it doesn't
seem to be enough for art to just be pleasant or thought-provoking
or challenging, arts proponents are lined up around the block
to promote music, art, dance, and the like as a veritable balm
for the soul, a healer and soother of the stresses of modern life.
The latest example was the global series of concerts commemorating
the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl by Al-Qaeda
terrorists, and while the sentiment of the organizers was clearly
in the right place, Peter Dobrin worries that we are "preaching
to the choir. The harder task is to convince spiritual have-nots
that they are have-nots, and to give to them something more human
to reach for." Philadelphia Inquirer
10/13/02

DECLINE
IN VALUE: American arts organizations are facing a triple
whammy - declining corporate support because of the economy, cuts
in government support, and - because of the battered stock market
- substantial declines in the value of endowments. "This
has been the most challenging time for our cultural institutions
in my memory. We're seeing erosions between 15 and 60 percent
in the market value of endowments at arts institutions nationwide."
The Star-Tribune (Mpls) 10/09/02

ISRAEL
- OUT OF THE LOOP: Artists have stopped going to Israel. "In
the past two years, ever since the outbreak of the second intifada,
a virtual blockade has been set up between the cultural world
of the West and Israel. Performers and ensembles are canceling
performances here, and even more are not even booking dates. The
situation is so bad that the impresario business, which had specialized
in bringing international acts to Israel, is on the brink of collapse."
Ha'aretz (Israel) 10/08/02

X-RATED
CLASSICAL: The New Zealand Symphony sent out 8000 promotional
CDs to market its new season. But when recipients of the discs
put them into computers to play, they discovered that someone
had substituted the track titles with pornographic descriptions
of sex acts. "It seemed the person responsible used an Internet
media player to read the CD, made the changes and saved them on
the database. This meant that whenever anyone else used a media
player connected to that database, the X-rated version was displayed."
The Age (Melbourne) 10/08/02

OH,
GOD, NO: "A Russian opera company is planning a comic
opera that will tell the infamous story of Monica Lewinsky and
the president. The Russian president, to be precise. The composer
of Monica in the Kremlin is Vitali Okorokov, a classically
trained musician who is well known to the Russian public for his
pop hits. After a performance of one of his symphonic poems, Okorokoc
was approached by the artistic director of the Saratov Opera,
who asked him to write an opera on a contemporary subject."
Andante 10/10/02